The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday Dec. 5, 2017 gave their blessing to the highly motivated Springstead High School International Baccalaureate (IB) student Kayla Madril to begin efforts on reviving Amity Trails Park, located off of Coronado Drive, Linden and Little Farms Road in Spring Hill. The project will be part of the county’s “Adopt-a-Park” program.
The 8.5 acre Amity Trails Park was donated to the county by the Deltona Corporation, the original developers of Spring Hill in 1987 with a stipulation that the county would maintain it for 21 years. The park was closed as a community park in 2011.
Currently there is an old mulched walking trail, some small picnic tables and benches. The park was developed for area residents to primarily walk to, not drive cars, so there was never a parking lot established.
Madril explained that the park “is located in a nice growing area.” She recalled that she once appreciated the big trees and the open space, but now she says, “it’s unkempt due to lack of funding and maintenance” and “ridden with broken tree limbs.” Madril said,
“So my proposal today is to re-open the park and my role in this process is to oversee a few things supported by the county such as maintenance. The county will need to provide a maintenance crew for the initial cleanup and any heavy equipment work like mowing and hauling tree limbs out of the property. I will start regular cleanup work on my own time with help from school friends and school clubs for the remainder of my high school career. ”
Madril and student volunteers will use the opportunity to gain valuable community service hours which is required for the IB program and the Florida Bright Futures scholarship program.
The plan is to conduct clean-ups every other week or once a month.
Madril mentioned that she is in the process of securing a waste management company to supply a dumpster and working to get donated supplies from places like Home Depot in order to restore picnic tables and benches.
“If you choose to help me re-open this park it will add to the wellbeing of our growing community and add charm to our small area,” she said.
There were some concerns from community members over spending money on a park that the community may not even want, since many of the nearby residents are older and wouldn’t have a desire to use it.
It would cost the county about $9,500 in year 1, including the $5000 initial cleanup. and then regular mowing for about $3000 per year and a $1500 annual fee for once a week dumpster cleanup. This estimate does not include any staff time nor equipment use beyond the initial park cleanup.
Coral Gables lawyer Michael Goldstein, who was in attendance for a separate agenda item, pledged his firm’s pro bono services to Madril’s group in order to assist them in finding possible grants to maintain and improve the park. Goldstein said, “Urban parks are near and dear to my heart and my firm’s heart. We’ve been working to facilitate the creation and preservation and maintenance of parks for sometime now… We’ll do that regardless of the vote before the body today.” Goldstein is representing developers, the Housing Trust Group of Coconut Grove in Miami, in their efforts to acquire a brownfield designation from the county commission, which opens up state funding opportunities for his client to use in development of the property in question, the Hammock Ridge low income apartments. The vote on the somewhat contentious issue followed later in the meeting with commissioners not supporting the designation.
Goldstein added, “We’re also supportive generally in youth getting involved in environmental advocacy and on top of that we are going to write a check for $5,000 to this group to facilitate their efforts and also to pay for some of the upfront costs of bringing waste management facilities and the like to the park.”
County Administrator Len Sossamon and commissioners praised Madril for her initiative and were all supportive of her efforts.
Commissioner Holcomb suggested Madril find a student that is willing to keep the project going after she graduates.
Chairman Dukes, stated, “I would love to see this thing be a shining example of what we could do and I’m not going to oppose it.”
Commissioner Champion suggested looking at ways to make the park self sustaining like renting out the facilities for birthday parties and the like.
Holcomb brought up pursuing sponsorship opportunities for local businesses.
County Attorney Garth Coller commented that now there are more sidewalks in the neighborhood, the park may be more successful.
The motion to approve the project passed unanimously.